The Mariners announced that infielder/outfielder Samad Taylor has been selected to the roster. He will take the active roster spot of infielder/outfielder Dylan Moore, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list. The IL placement, which is retroactive to April 26th, is due to right hip inflammation. To open a 40-man spot for Taylor, right-hander Gregory Santos has been transferred to the 60-day IL.
Moore has been out to a red-hot start this year, with a .286/.346/.557 line to this point while bouncing around to all four infield spots and right field. He earned American League Player of the Week honors for the week of April 14th to 20th. It seems this hip issue will put that on pause. He hasn’t played since Friday, which is why the M’s were able to backdate his IL placement. The club hasn’t provided any updates but it’s possible he could rejoin them in a week if he just needs a bit of rest.
For now, Taylor will come up and take his spot. Like Moore, he’s capable of bouncing around the diamond. In the big leagues, he has experience at second base, third base, center field and left field. He has also played some shortstop in the minors, though not this year.
Offensively, he has hit just .215/.288/.277 in his 74 big league plate appearances, but with much better numbers on the farm. Dating back to the start of 2022, he has stepped to the plate 1,392 times at the Triple-A level with a .277/.371/.427 line and 108 wRC+. That includes a strong .321/.389/.560 showing so far this year. Speed is also a big part of Taylor’s game. He has stolen at least 23 bases in each minor league season dating back to 2018, including 50 last year. He already has six so far in 2025.
He will presumably move around to various positions for the M’s, perhaps doing some pinch running as well. He still has an option remaining, so he could be easily sent back down to the minors if Moore gets healthy relatively quickly.
As for Santos, it was reported last week that he would be undergoing surgery to repair cartilage in his right knee. His exact timeline isn’t clear but this transfer to the 60-day IL indicates that the club expects him to be out beyond the middle of June.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
I might be alone in this, but it’s always suspicious to me when a guy(Moore)who is usually under 110 OPS+ suddenly spikes to a 168 OPS+ in his walk year.
I say the same about New York’s Trent Grisham and I said the same thing last year about Jurickson Profar. Going from league average(or below)slugging to elite slugging in your platform year is very unusual.
Blame the verified PED cheaters for making me cynical, but suddenly becoming elite(almost on cue in your walk year)after years of being quite average is very strange.
It’s a 78-PA sample.
Dylan has always been quite streaky, and flashes right to the point of “wow, he’s so good he should be playing everyday.” And then cools off. That’s the perpetual pattern of his career.
I mean, would it be suspicious if it wasn’t a walk year? The implication you’re making is nonsensical.
Reality is he’s just mashing lefties so far this year. 5 HR in 33 PAs as against lefties so far – with 4 of those coming on the road in 18 PAs.
It’s just small sample size noise coming from a couple really good games against lefties on the road.
And if you want to be pedantic, if there’s one thing DMo has always been elite at, it is hitting lefties on the road: his career slash line in those situations is 273/384/525.
I think this has more to do with the new bats than PEDs
We knew Samad was coming the way he’s been hitting and running in Tacoma.
He represents the best, and last, of their MLB-ready utility depth.
It’s good to see him get the call, I just wish it was under better circumstances.
Well, there’s one left in Locklear. And with Solano doing so poorly, I expect they’ll call him up, too.
At this point—although we’re barely a month in—I’d like to see them make the same bold (and correct) move they did with Haniger and just dfa Solano already and give Locklear another shot. He and Samad have been putting in some good work down at Cheney and it’d be nice to see him rewarded for it as well.
Tellez has less value than Solano.
Solano has barely played, but can play 3 positions.
Tellez will almost certainly go before Solano.
It’s still April and Seattle is without 6 key players: Kirby, Gilbert, Brash, Santos, Robles, and now Moore.
In the words of the great Perry Hill, “STOP IT!”
At least we’re looking at a Brash activation soon here.
Yeah, and the bullpen is clearly Seattle’s biggest area of weakness. Hobbs is a name to watch in Arkansas. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s in the mix by June.
Yeah I’m getting a bit chagrined with all the late 3-run dingers our bullpen has been giving up in garbage time. I’m thinking Thornton is on thin ice right now…
Feels weird to say it, but I agree completely. It actually appears like the offensive will be competitive night in and night out.
Yeah it is wild: Mariners currently 4th in OBP, 6th in SLUG, 3rd in HR, 1st in BB, tied for 3rd in SB. Wacky stuff. Tripping out right now.
Now if we could just scratch out some league average pitching, maybe this team will get somewhere. /s
Wish it were Roy Hobbs, but 17 Ks in 10 innings is close. He’s already 25 and his minor league stats have been pretty good. Why is he still in AA?
We don’t particularly like sending pitchers to Tacoma. Obviously some have to pitch there, but the Rainiers’ roster is usually filled with depth while the guys ticketed for eventual big league work make a short pit stop. Kirby and Gilbert both only made 1 appearance in Tacoma, while Woo pitched 11 innings there. Miller never got there at all. Even young relievers our FO likes, such as Troy Taylor, barely get run there, as evidenced by his 5.1 IP in Tacoma before promotion.
Let’s go Samad! OOTP25 hero.
Some more bad news may be coming soon.
Seattle’s lack of outfield depth has already been tested with Robles, and now Moore, out. One more loss could be crippling.
Tightening up their depth was one of the biggest offseason failures, especially with relievers and outfielders.
Yeah….
*Not tightening up their depth.
Hopefully it won’t be tested further tonight.
Well Luke raley tweak his back in the batting cage and out of the lineup tonight.
Does anybody know why they keep sticking with Solano? He has looked so passive at the plate. I haven’t checked, but his EV’s look like they’re about -21 mph off the bat. Can they bring Locklear up ?